Sleight of Hand
by celticgina
Summary: So, is it for real? What if it isn't? Playing with that idea. Rated for safety, in case the bunnies get naughty. Come inside and play. Let me and the bunnies know what your think CHAPTER 2 up...and I need help!
1. Chapter 1

**OK, so this story is from the germ of an idea that they are faking it. Not sure where the hell the bunnies are going with this one. I am hating the break up. Big Surprise….huh?**

**DISCLAIMER: People, you all know if *I* owned them this would all be so unnecessary!**

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**Slight of Hand Chapter 1**

"Tiffany? You don't think you could have been more obvious? Jeez, should I have some guy named Lance Romance call for me?"

"I am sorry. Cathy and LeeAnn came up with the name. They thought it was funny."

"Look, I appreciate your neighbors helping us out, but do they not understand how serious this needs to be? This is not some Junior HS phone prank. This is our careers and lives."

"I know, I know, but who the hell else was I going to get to help? All the other women in my complex are married and their husbands glare at me and the single or divorced ones all have problems hanging curtains and changing light bulbs. It is too weird. I figured since Cathy and LeeAnn know you and are with each other, there would be no misunderstanding"

"You're right. It was nice of them to help us out. Who called, by the way? I hope not LeeAnn? Her voice sounds like, well like a man"

"No, I am pretty sure Cathy called. I think she used that voice she uses when she is making fun of the cheerleaders she teaches"

Grace nodded. They had barbequed once or twice with the other couple in his apartment duplex. She like them, they treated the agents with normalcy she craved. There were no stupid jokes about guns or handcuffs. She was actually surprised that Wayne was friends with them. But apparently, after LeeAnn had helped him figure out a problem with his car, they had gotten along just fine. He had treated them like any other couple, Cathy had confessed to Grace in the kitchen. So, when they needed help with their little project, the two agents turned to the only couple they knew outside law enforcement who would help.

Their little project was a whopper. Officially, they were split. Officially, they were miserable. Officially, they had moved on. Officially was a crock of shit.

It had started that night. Grace had quietly sobbed her way down in the elevator with an awkward and embarrassed Lisbon. She never really knew how she drove home that night. She had just broken his heart and her own.

Jane knew with one glance what had happened. He headed back into the bullpen to make sure Rigsby wasn't doing something stupid. The big man was oh so careful about rules, but when pushed, acted on instinct alone. He had been seriously pushed here.

Jane personally thought Hightower was being very foolish. Their team was running very well even with the two agents dating. No one really cared and the solve rate was still high. There was going to be no drama. Rigsby was a goner from word one over Van Pelt. And once she let down her guard enough to let him in, Jane knew she felt safe. Van Pelt would not give up that rare feeling too easily. And based upon their smiles, they were very compatible sexually. Rigsby was so happy to be with Van Pelt, that he was probably doing whatever it took to make her as happy with him. No, they were the real deal, as far as Jane could see.

Patrick Jane had lost real love. He was too focused on his own revenge for that loss to allow himself to be drawn toward that feeling again. Although recently, he found himself thinking more about Lisbon than was probably smart. No. Not now. When this is finished, then he would see if his heart could beat that way again, for and with another. The best he could do now was to keep that ideal of young love alive in the two agents he had come to think of as family. They had gone out on limbs for him too often for him to allow them to be left out on their own. Clearly, he needed to intervene. Hightower would not be moved. He needed to save what little coin he had there for Lisbon. This he would have to do on his own.

Jane found Rigsby in the dim light of an office that most people had left for the day. He was sitting in his chair, half faced away from his desk, not moving. Jane was sure he had not moved since Van Pelt left. Patrick was an average sized man. People always thought he was taller because of the size of his personality. He used that to his advantage frequently. He had never been able to pull that with Rigsby. The man had 6 inches on him easily and was much broader across. It was the first thing you noticed about Rigsby. His sheer size. It made his speed a shock to most criminals when they ran. They never expected the big man to react so fast or catch them so easily.

Right now, Rigsby looked small. He was slumped in his seat, his long legs sprawled out in front of him as if he had been pushed into the seat with the wind knocked out of him. At that moment, Jane knew what happened. It wasn't Rigsby who broke Van Pelt's heart. She had done it to herself and him both.

"Wayne?"

Starting, Rigsby looked up at Jane. The misery and shock on his face was evident. Jane could see he wasn't even registering his surroundings. He had seen this look on the faces of people who had lost loved ones violently. The stunned look he knew he had on his face when he opened his bedroom door all those years ago. This was bad, very bad. Jane actually feared for Rigsby. The man had given his whole heart from word one.

"Rigsby? What did she say?"

In that same stunned, hollow voice of a victim's family, Rigsby began to talk to Jane slowly. It didn't seem like he believed it was real to him. The words weren't complete sentences, but Jane got it.

"I was going. Grace or the Job, Cho said. Make the choice. So I did. I was going. San Francisco, Serious crimes. Not too long a drive. I didn't care. I would still have a place in a good unit and Grace. I could have both. What the hell, a car ride? That's nothing. I was going. We were going to see Hightower together. Our decision. We were choosing each other. I know who I am? What the fuck did that mean? She wouldn't take responsibility for my leaving? She loved the job more. What the fuck? What about the responsibility of breaking us up, of breaking our hearts?

That stupid girl, he thought. Still had not completely opened up and trusted Rigsby. Jane was disappointed in her. She was throwing it away. For a job. For the chance to chase bad guys and put some away. Knowing that there would always be bad guys, but real true love would not come that often. Stupid girl.

But first he had to put Rigsby back together. The man was seconds from shattering.

"So, are you going to take it? Are you going to let her make that call for you? You run into fires without thought, chase dangerous criminals and are always the point man, no matter who is on the other side of that door. Are you really that afraid?

"She made her decision. She wants the job."

The words were uttered low and raspy, as if he was trying not to cry. Jane was thinking fast. He knew their team was about to lose its heart. Rigsby and Van Pelt miserable would drag them all down. It would hurt Lisbon. Wait, no it would hurt his chances to get Red John. Jane grabbed his chair and shook it, taking Rigsby off guard.

"Get up! Now! We are going to see Van Pelt now"

"No! What? She doesn't… We can't''

"Damnit! Get up and come with me now or I will go alone. Maybe since she is single, I will ask her out. She is lovely after all and I am not an agent, just a consultant." He began to walk away quickly, knowing he had just thrown gasoline at a very large fire.

It worked.

35 minutes later, they were at Grace's apartment door. Rigsby lifted his hand to knock, but left it poised for a long minute over the door. Jane stopped waiting and knocked. Grace opened the door looking even worse than she had in the elevator. At least there she tried to hold it together. At home she had let it all go.

"What? No! Wayne, we can't. Just go. Go away!"

She began to close the door, but Jane pushed his way in and Rigsby followed. He thought this was the craziest of all of Jane's plans but was desperate enough to try anything.

"Grace. Baby, listen to him. We can't do this. Look at us. At least listen to him"

Thus their little project was born. It was a strain for sure and required them to be even more circumspect. They both knew they were playing with fire but couldn't bear the alternative. It meant they could see each other less. But they still had it all. Wayne wasn't happy. He still wanted to leave. Grace thought he would resent the drive and her. Wayne laughed at that. If she only knew the hours he had spent on a motorcycle she would understand how little the commute meant to him.

Wayne hated the secrecy and was pretty sure despite Jane's assurances that the lid would blow off. Publicly, he worked out more and pretended a romance with another woman. Publicly, he looked like he had moved on. Privately, he wanted desperately to walk down the street with the woman he loved. Privately, he had decided to give this only a few weeks more. Up until now, he had gone along with all this. He had even gotten his neighbors involved. Thanks to them and Jane, everyone believed this ruse.

Grace wasn't sure this was the best way to go. She was sure they would be caught. She was sure they would both be fired. She was also sure she couldn't live without Wayne. That hour from when she ended it till Jane and Wayne showed up on her door step had been the worst of her life. She was overwhelmed by the misery and heartbreak of that hour. She knew the secrecy was eating at Wayne. She was terrified that he would give up on them.

Jane was kind of enjoying himself. He was watching them pretend very convincingly to be broken up. He threw fuel onto the fire whenever he could. As a matter of fact, Lisbon had pulled him aside and told him to stop tormenting the young agents. He reluctantly agreed and smiled to himself. He was a genius and his plan was working. Even Cho didn't suspect a thing.

Jane was wrong, very wrong.

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**Dun dun dun……. Ok, here it is……REVIEW PEOPLE!! I have no idea why my stories get read, alerted and not reviewed? Do you hate them? Love them? I am enough of a review whore to beg here people!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I have to be honest here, my friends, I have no clue what the hell I am doing! Usually, the bunnies are banging on my keyboard and leaving fur everywhere. For this one, they are showing up and hiding under the sofa behind the dust bunnies. Can someone coax them out??**

**DISCLAIMER: IF they were mine, nothing would be getting faked, if ya know what I mean…wink wink**

Sleight of Hand Chapter 2

Kimball Cho did not get to be one of the top interrogators at the CBI by being a fool. His first reaction to the big break up had been surprise. He was sure Rigsby would choose love. After all, he had almost made that mistake once before. No, when it was laid out for him, Cho knew where his friend's choice would go.

Giving up on them? So easily? Yeah, he had looked miserable and Van Pelt looked like she had spent a night crying, but that was really it. When Rigsby got those phone calls from Tiffany, Van Pelt didn't look as upset as she should. Rigsby didn't get that goofy look when a woman paid attention him. For a big guy who women fell over, he was a klutz when it came to women. He would stammer and step all over his own tongue. And Cho wasn't getting any details. He wasn't really interested in them, but Rigsby was the king of the overshare. Cho always knew too much about Rigsby's theories on women, always wrong. Cho always knew the outcome of Rigsby's trying out said theories, always a disaster.

Not this time. Had his relationship with Van Pelt changed him that much? Had he learned about women? Was he now finally comfortable? Cho threw a quick look at Rigsby. Nope. Something was off. Wayne was working out like crazy. He was also much quieter. Not as if his heart had been broken, but rather he was afraid to say anything.

And Van Pelt. The heat between those two had been almost embarrassing. They were usually circumspect, but still, it was there. Now? Nothing. No one turns that kind of heat off that easily. She was quiet, almost too quiet. For someone who's boyfriend was clearly moving on, she didn't give out that single vibe. She seemed still to be unavailable. Cho knew there was a line of guys waiting to ask her out. Some were agents like Rigsby who didn't care enough about the rules. Some were from the AG's office. There were some defense attorney's and even a judge. But she wasn't biting. And oddly enough, given the light speed of gossip around here, no one was even trying.

Something was off. Jane was making bull in the china shop insensitive remarks. Both Rigsby and Van Pelt would look mortified, but that was it. Cho would expect more. Something was off. Cho began to watch more carefully.

It only took a week and Cho knew. He couldn't even say how or why, but he just knew. He was actually impressed that they had been this careful. He also knew it had to be killing them both. Rigsby was as open and readable as a puppy. Van Pelt was more closed off, but she hadn't been an agent long enough to develop that toughness. He understood why they were trying this dangerous path. What he didn't get was Jane's part in it Sure, he lived to flout the rules, but putting himself out for someone was not his normal behavior. Cho found Jane to be brilliant but self absorbed. Jane would only be doing this if it served his own ends. And only as long as it served those ends. That was just part of what concerned Cho.

He briefly debated saying something. But when this imploded, and he knew it would he decided plausible deniability would be better. It would be bad enough for Lisbon to lose those two, losing him too would be a career ender. So, he did what he did best. He watched, quietly.

Cho would have been relieved to know that Lisbon was not quite as clueless as he thought. She noted the same things he had. She hadn't been quite as shocked over their announcement as everyone thought. She was actually surprised that she managed to fool Jane on that one. She wouldn't have been much of a cop if she hadn't noticed them. They were careful, she would give them that. She half expected it all to come out when Van Pelt got shot. But no, she was proud of how well Rigsby handled it. She decided at that point to ignore the whole thing. They behaved. If they hadn't made that announcement, she could have lived with it as is. Even after she un-officially gave them her blessing, she was proud of how they handled it.

She was annoyed at Hightower. She understood the need to make everyone toe the line. She knew Hightower's first job was to fix the CBI. Take the battered trophy of California Law enforcement and hammer out the dents. Smooth over those marks and polish it till gleamed again. The Governor, State AG and the people of this state needed to feel like they had a go-to force when those crimes too vile or too big for the local law enforcement reared its ugly head. They needed to be the cavalry coming over the hill, the big guns, pulled out for the big battles against evil. The last few years had taken a toll on the CBI. Hightower's job was to fix that.

Lisbon was a cop. She knew every aspect of her life was controlled by that. It was one of those career choices that defined you forever. It didn't matter if you cured cancer or sang arias. You were a cop first and always. It meant that you lived by a different standard. Your life was under a microscope and anything you did could be picked up and examined at the will of the people you protected.

Van Pelt and Rigsby knew that too. They knew going into this job it would be that way. For them to still ignore and sneak around the way they were was to walk a very dangerous line. She was sympathetic to them. She didn't think Hightower had made the right call there. But if they got caught, and she was sure they would, she would lose most of her team. It was going to be very bad.

What Lisbon wasn't sure of was why Jane was helping. He had to be. There was no way something like this was going on behind his back. He had to know, and based upon his comments was trying to throw everyone off. Why? He had to know how bad this would be. Even the king of the rule-breakers was smart enough to know what lines not to cross. He usually only took care of himself. This was the puzzling and typically Jane-like frightening piece.

Why? What would happen? Who really knows? In between solving cases, those questions taunted both Lisbon and Cho separately. This limbo of uncertainty would have gone on had Hightower's car not gone up in flames.

Just a little sense of the rest of the team for you all…….we like or no?


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